Joyce Lynn Sheridan, 89, of Appomattox, died Sunday, February 25, 2024.

Born in Roanoke, September 7, 1934, she was a daughter of the late Edith Mae Campbell Altice and Arthur Dawling Altice.  Joyce, known to family as Billie, worked and lived about ten years at Paradise Lake Family Campground, Spout Spring, VA, where she worked in the office and was the campground host until her transition to Appomattox Health and Rehab in Appomattox, Va., where she received great care until her passing. "She lived life on her terms, and it was a life she loved."

She is survived by three nephews; niece; two young women who were always like her granddaughters, Jennifer and Catherine Dent of San Antionio, TX; and many cousins and friends.

She was preceded in death by her daughter, Lynne Proffitt.

Joyce chose to be cremated. Her ashes were spread over her Campbell grandparents' graves and some cast to the gentle breeze in the Campbell Family Cemetery at the foot of Roanoke Mountain, Roanoke, VA.

Retired woman travels the country trading labor for RV Space.

Some retired women are content to stay home and knit and watch television.

Not Joyce Sheridan. The self-confident retired credit union worker thinks nothing of climbing behind the wheel of her huge motor home and driving across the country all by herself.

Sheridan, 70, was born in Virginia, lived in Delaware for 20 years, then tried living in Florida before moving to San Antonio, she said.

A participant of the workcamper program, Sheridan roves the country from one assignment to the next, earning her stay at campgrounds by performing whatever jobs are available, she said.

A workcamper is someone who reduces their cost of travel by trading their labor at a recreational vehicle park for a free RV space, utility hookups. Sometimes they are also paid wages.

Opportunities abound for workcampers on several websites and magazines such as Workcamper News

Workcampers perform task as varied as running an information desk at the park office, lawn care, kitchen work or handling park security duties,

Her introduction to the world of RVs came through a co-worker, she said.

"I worked at a credit union and one of the vice presidents and his wife sold their house and moved into an RV," she said. "That's what got me interested. When I retired, I bought this and sold everything. That was about 4 ½ years ago."

After learning about workcamping and taking a month-long training course in December 2000 in Livingston, Texas, she worked at parks in New Mexico, Arizona, Tennessee, Missouri, Florida and Alabama, she said.

"I couldn't afford to travel all the time,' she said. "I couldn't afford to just pay (lot rent and park fees). I guess I could just find cheap parks and stay there, but I wouldn't want to do that."

Divorced many years ago, Sheridan had to work twice as many hours at an RV park to earn a free stay as each member of a married couple would, she said. She works 16 to 24 hours a week for her lot and utility hook-ups.

"So, it's costing me nothing to stay here for the full winter," she said. "There is plenty of time after working to see the surrounding area."

She worked in Maine last summer, South Dakota the summer before that, and will have a job at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Outer Banks in North Carolina this spring, right on the Atlantic Ocean, Sheridan said.

"This is really a neat life, I've met so many people," she said. "It seems like the RVers are really nice. They want to help you."

"Doing this sure beats staying home and cleaning the house, cutting the grass every week and doing nothing," she said. "I feel that I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity."

Sheridan doesn't spend all her time on the shuffleboard court or playing canasta either.

"I left my house on the 66th birthday and I went skydiving on my 67th birthday," she said. While I'm on the Outer Banks, I plan to go hang Gliding….I've had a pretty nice life, so far.'

Article Written by Allen Essex 2005

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